God’s Original Design in Genesis 2 (Genesis 2)

A Few Thoughts to Consider

What was God’s original intent for creation and humanity?

Before we answer this, let’s address a quick technical note. The Bible didn’t always have the chapters and verses we see in translations today. Stephen Langton, an Archbishop of Canterbury, first divided the modern Bible into chapters around 1227, prompting the Wycliffe English Bible in 1382 to use this pattern. In 1448, a Jewish rabbi named Nathan divided the Hebrew Old Testament into verses. In 1555, Robert Estienne, also known as Stephanus, divided the New Testament into standard numbered verses, building on Nathan’s verse divisions for the Old Testament.

Thus, when we get to Genesis 2, we see that the first three verses could easily be the summation of Chapter 1. The author of Genesis, often thought to be Moses, writes:

¹ So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed. ² On the seventh day God had completed his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. ³ God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested from all his work of creation.

This passage teaches us that the principle of keeping a 24-hour Sabbath was always God’s original intent for humanity. And when we operate without it, our lives are out of rhythm.

In The Emotionally Healthy Leader, Peter Scazzero writes, “God’s Sabbath rhythm is a reflection of the rhythm that undergirds all of creation.”[1] He goes on to say, “On the Sabbath we embrace our limits. We let go of the illusion that we are indispensable to the running of the world.”[2]

Genesis 2 is chock-full of other foundational material as well. Verses 7-8 tell us God created man from the dust of the ground and placed him in the garden of Eden. Oz Guinness says,

“The Genesis declaration that humans are made in the image and likeness of God is the clearest, strongest, and most influential statement of the priceless value of the individual human being in human history.”^[3]

Verses 16-17 let us know man can eat every tree except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If he eats that tree, he will die. Verses 18-22 give us the origin story of Eve because God says, “It is not good that the man should be alone.”

These verses also reveal God’s intended design for marriage relationships. The most sacred human relational covenants must be between one man and one woman. Thus, the question for Christians today is not what relationship makes me happiest. Instead, it is what relationship will best align me with God’s intended design?

In verses 24-25, the author makes another foundational observation when he writes, “²⁴ This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh. ²⁵ Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.”

Two points I want to note. First, this tells us that when a couple gets married, there is a natural separation that occurs. Yes, they might still ask their parents for wisdom, but the relational dynamic shifts. Second, nakedness was never intended to produce shame.